Camping in PA

[wozzukes]

Our maiden voyage is next weekend also to a local state park. We spent today de-winterizing and sterilizing the holding tank and loading it up with the rest of the stuff from our old trailer. Also came across some minor fix issues that need to be addressed.

cumminsdad08 - where do you usually camp? We're located between Allentown and Reading, so not too far from the Lebanon area (my brother went to LVC).

We camp with our dog (chocolate lab) as long as the place allows them (some state parks don't). We've never had a problem with her and have left her in our old trailer on occasion for short periods of time. I never really saw any clauses stating you couldn't leave them in your trailer. As long as they aren't a nuisance as far as barking I don't see what the problem would be.

[cumminsdad08]

yea i seen a bunch, mostly down around the beach area and such. i got two beagle hound mix and they just get all torn up when they can't see whats going on, so i know it wouldn't take long to get someone stirred up a bit. um well this is the first time that we are going out in style, when we were a bit younger we would just camp in tents and such, where ever usually at peoples cabins and such. but with kids, hold up that turned into a whole event, i didn't know i could pile that much stuff in the back of my truck. so we kinda stayed away from it for a couple of years untill the checkes started rolling in and we could afford a nice trailer. so the long of the short of it, we never really camped in any place of importance, mostly up state, sulivan, tioga and such. i got family and freinds all over up there so it was never really hard to find someplace. BUT we do have next weekend and the following booked full. we are hitting up eagles peak campground, just south of robisonia, next weekend( Which was pushed off from 2 weeks ago when we got that cold snap) and then we are going to spend easter weekend in Lickdale campground, which is right by Fort Idiantown Gap right along 81 just north of the 78 spilt. few weeks from that we are staying in the KOA in jonestown, going to hit up Konobles sometime, and two big trips are a 5 year anniversery trip to Niagra Falls (kidless:D) and then to maryland in august, so it will be a busy year for us, i got to get some miles behind that trailer. i too spent the day today preping it for next weekend, and i found a bunch of issues also, i am real glad i pulled it home this morning, i had it untill about 10 tonight:eek:

[wgb1]

Well, our little trip turned out great. No problems with the trailer or the dogs. Many other people had dogs as well. We stayed around the campsite most of the time, so the dogs didn't have a chance to experience seperation anxiety. I am mad because I totally forgot to take the camera along for pictures and I was too frugal to make the 16 mile round trip drive to get it. Oh well, next time.......if I don't forget then as well.

[cumminsdad08]

well thats great to hear.

[wozzukes]

We have plans to go to Eagles Peak later in the summer (can't remember the date off the top of my head). I was there back when I was a kid but don't remember much about it but hear it's very nice. Some friends of ours have been to Lickdale and really liked it and recommended it to us so that's another on our list to try out.

We upgraded from tent camping to a 29' TT with no slides. We loved it and never thought we would need something bigger...until our daughter came along. Now we're up to a 5ver with 2 slides and will probably feel that is too small when we have our next child! This one has to last for quite a while though.

A place we really like is Ole Bull state park up in Potter county. There are many nice places to camp up there!

[cumminsdad08]

just returned from the peak. it was a very nice place to stay at. people were super nice. we were in site 005 with a view of the pond and no one else around us. very quite place. and there were quite a few people wondering around for early in the season. i don't think that they were busy by any means but it was still nice. even tho it rained all day yesterday, we still managed to get in a short walk, play in the park and mangaged to snag a few sunnys out of the pond. trailer worked great, only problem i had was the guy before me busted all the tabs off the sewer drain, so i had to fab up something to hold the hose on with zip ties, nedless to say i was anything but thrilled. and of course i only discovered this at the site, with no tools or anything. also i noticed that the weight distribution makes a lot of noise, like a lot of noise. i noticed it before just going from my storage to my house, but it is only 2 turns and 25 MPH the whole way both ways, so i never really paid much attention. i didn't hear it on the way out, BUT when i got to the campground, it was really, really loud. i guess the uneven washed out roads from the winter didn't really help, but it was kinda embarising. i don't know if this is normal, and i don't know of anyone that tow's with a set up like this. i am the first of my buddys to get anything other then a utilitly trailer. would lubing eveything up be a good idea. i know you should lube the ball a little bit, but what about the bars and sway control. i would think that would just make a mess more then benifit you. any input would be great. also this is a picture of the trailer on site.

[wozzukes]

Glad to hear you had a good first trip! Ours was good too, but way too wet and cold for my liking, haha! I don't know how it was down where you were, but we had tornado watches and everything where we were. It was nuts! It rained so hard that a lot of the gravel from the sites was washed across the road! I felt bad for those poor souls two sites down from us who were tenting it! They stuck it out though and we all came out unscathed!

The only issues we had this weekend were issues of forgetting things like dish soap, deodorant, and a few other small things. Not one issue with the trailer though which was good. The water pump is a bit loud for my liking so we'll have to see what we can do about that, but other than that it was nice to be dry and have a large area for our daughter to spread out and play while we watched movies since the weather was so bad.

I know with the weight distributing hitch on our old setup my husband used to lube the end of the bars that went into the hitch and also the balls where the friction bar attached to the hitch as well as the ball hitch on the truck. We never had a problem with it being loud, however you will hear creaking and other noises when backing into a site, especially if the site is uneven.

[cumminsdad08]

it was actually pretty nasty down with us too. amazingly we didn't really realize how bad it was untill we left the campground and were driving around. i guess between the tv being so loud and the kids running around we didn't even notice the wind. our campground had movies on the tv to watch and everything. and yea, we found out real quick everything we didn't have right down to butter for the toast, but we made do and had a ball. we did notice this morning when we got up, things seemed a little off and my daughter had a hard time walking around. i went out and a lot of the gravel did wash out from the "down side". i didn't worry about it cause we were leaving in a few hours. our pump is pretty loud too. i do know that there is nothing under it to help absorbe the vibration. i know with my fish tank air pump i have to put a towl under it to keep it quite. i have an idea that involves using a vibration isolator kit that i use on some garage door motors that i install. i want to mess around with it, but just didn't get there yet. oh and my wife found out real quick that she can't screw around in the shower with the whole 6 gal's of hot water we have:rolleyes::D

[cumminsdad08]

just returned from lickdale campground, and over all not real impressed. not a whole lot to do, espacially for little ones. they have a little playground with some home made stuff, that i really don't think is the safest place to play, and i am not real picky on things like that most of the time. but that is all they had. i know from living in the area that there is nothing in the creek to catch. the people were very nice and i have no complaints on it. the sites seem to be right on top of one another with just enough room for your slide and awning, if you are a "regular" you must get the "special sites" with more of a yard( and i am not talking about the seasonal sites) everything was a mud whole, even tho it rained all friday night and sat morn. things just didn't dry out, and they don't make much attempt to stone the roads and sites very well. so once the kids were covered in mud, and we got over it, it was ok. just had to strip once the day is over and retire. we wont be in rush to head back there. over all it was nice but just not on the top of our list. there are 3 other campgounds in the same distance that work for us a little better.

[ziptie]

camp at knoebels(if you have a big camper ur going to have fun the lots r small )u have to full up on water befor going to lot. there is also a campground about a mile away that is nice. camp at Rosemount,Mt vista and lake in wood,twin grove. Have camping trip for Mt Springs in Sept.

[wozzukes]

We used to camp at Knoebel's when I was a kid. We still try to get up there at least once a year but usually just as a day trip. It's been quite a few years since I've camped there, but now that we have a child I'm sure it will be on the list once she gets a bit older and can enjoy it more.

Mountain Springs was ok. Not one of my favorites though. It's a big place and I found it to be rather loud. We were right by the lake which was just a magnet for our daughter so it became more of a pain than anything trying to keep her away from it. Then they had a horseshoe tournament which was right behind our site so it was like we had an audience all day long, although it did give us some entertainment.

We're headed to Pequea Creek out near Lancaster for Memorial Day, and are then heading up to Stony Fork Creek near Wellsboro. We went to Stony Fork at the very end of the season last year and liked it, but it was way too cold and rainy (it was October) to really enjoy it so we're heading back there again and will hopefully have better weather. It's a really nice area up there, I just wish it wasn't so far of a drive for a weekend trip.

[cumminsdad08]

we are going to konobles the second weekend of june, and staying down the road, where hopefully it wont be a busy. we decided that we like it quite. to much action going on and i start to get a little uneasy with all them kids running and playing around my truck, and i am VERY pertective of my truck. you should consider heading up there that weekend. i am sure you could get a site still. your daughter would love it. we are really having a hard time finding company to camp with. especially couples our age, being a younger couple with smaller kids, a lot of the older couples around us tend to walk by. we just returend from the KOA in jonestown Pa and it was overall a great experiance. we were a little nervous pulling into our site when we saw it was facing the ground next to us, and he was setting up when i was pulling in. the two sites were rather large and the would have been a great set up for two groups that know each other. BUT we made the best of it, and the couple was a little older, but they were getting ready to grandparents, so they took to our kids right away. they were from down around the greater philly area and they were just as plesent as could be. the campground seemed well kept, it had a fenced in K9 area that was great for our dogs, we started with one, and ended up coming home and getting the second one. our boy got to ride and blow the horn in a fire truck, and he is still talking about it. the only complaint i had was the cable didn't work, and when we told them about it, nothing happend and no attempt was made. but it wasn't a huge deal cause i have been diying to try out my new antenna extention out (which worked great). i heard from some others that it is new management and they are really turning it around, so cable was a new addition, so they got to work the bugs out. but over all it was great, and we had a ball. didn't rain much, just a little bit sat night into sunday. We are planing on returning there more often. just 15 min. down the road from us. let me know if anyone is coming to the area!!

[Outbackmel]

Looking for actual experiences from snowbirds that flock south of Sarasota, east or west coast. Trying to pick a place for January and February. I am very familiar with Florida; just totally UNfamiliar with campgrounds. Have all of those typical on line and paper tools. Let me hear about the great places you and friends have camped at.

I am planning on actually visiting sites late summer and picking a spot. Nearly froze here in GA last winter ;)

Thanks; OutbackMel

[jq1031]

Hi Mel, I live in Sarasota County and I may be able to give you a few tips. There is a place called Sarasota Sunny South off US 41 on Doud Rd. about 4 miles from Siesta Key Island & beach in Sarasota. My wife & I stayed there the winter before this past one while our house was being built. It's a very new RV park that was formerly a run down trailer park. The new owner has turned it into a snow bird heaven. A GoodSam park with only 55 RV sites plus some mobile home sites, a new pool, club house, new patio's for each gravel site & located in the heart of eveything here in Sarasota. I know the owner & he's already filling up for next year.
There are quite a few other places in and around this area, it all depend where you want to locate & what activities interest you. You're welcome to send me a PM with any questions you might have.

[cumminsdad08]

Ok i am going to just put this out there. my wife thinks i am a bit loony, but i don't care(cause guys don't usually do). i am looking for some camping freinds. the freinds we have don't really seem into it, and the ones that are, don't have the money to go. we just sat at a campground for 4 days with no one else around, completly empty. it was a nice place, but not a whole lot to do, and till monday morning, we had plenty of "famliy time" if you know what i mean. so i figured i would put this out there and see if anyone is interested in maybe meeting up and seeing how it works out. we are a young couple, mid 20's with two kids 3 and 1.75, and sometimes 2 dogs. we enjoy biking, hiking, walking, and just hanging out too. i fish, my wife did before kids, and i hope to get them all back into it. we don't drink, or smoke, or carry on. kinda laid back. but we don't mind people that smoke and drink resposibly. we don't need another younger couple, a lot of our friends are older then us, but you do need to be able to put up with some rammy kids, they are not bad, but just kids, always moving around. we are in the central PA area, lebanon county. we usually try to stay with in an hour or so and try to keep it under a half tank or so. we already have a lot of trips planed for the summer, not so much for fall, but do have a bunch of holes here and there. let me know if anyone is interested at all. i am not desperate or anything like that, just looking to make some new freinds that share the same interest in camping that we do.

[wozzukes]

We have a trip planned for this weekend, and then we are taking a bit of a hiatus to get some work done around the house. My husband and I are both 30, have a 19 month old daughter and are due with #2 in December. We normally camp with some friends who are about the same age and have 3 little boys (4, 2 and 5 months) so we are quite familiar with rammy kids, lol. We have a chocolate lab, and our friends have 2 bulldogs that also camp with us. My husband is an avid fisherman, me not so much. We don't smoke, but do enjoy a glass of wine or a beer around the campfire, although I won't be partaking in that this summer for obvious reasons. We actually make our own wine, so we're always stocked!

We tend to camp in the north central part of the state (I went to PSU and husband to Bucknell so we like to go back to the those areas). We are going to Wellsboro this weekend which is quite a drive, but it is a very nice area. I'm not sure when we will be getting out again after this weekend since we have lots of work to do at our house to prepare for the new baby, but I'll keep you posted and post where you will be when and maybe we can make some plans to be at the same campground some weekend!

[The Sod Father]

If you like to camp in North/Central PA, then you may want to look into Ives Run.
http://bit.ly/j7U19W
It is just north of Wellsboro. It is in the Tioga Hammod Lakes area - an Army Corp of Engineers park. The park is spectacular with a beautiful man made lake. The campground is equally spectacular. Many sites offer W/S/E and are level. My wife and I love this park. It is also dog friendly.

Other dog friendly PA State Parks parks that are personal favorites are Gifford Pinchot and Locust Lake. Pinchot has a bazillion sites that are mostly level and can accomodate 40' rigs. Locust Lake is not very "large rv" friendly but there are a few electric sites that will fit my 35' trailer.

As noted before, Eagles Peak is great. We went there for the first time last fall and had a blast. We were also blown away when we were "escorted" to our site by a staffer on a golf cart. Not only did he take us directly to our site, he then guided me into the site until I was perfectly square. I offered to give the guy a few bucks but he flat out refused.

HTH.

[cumminsdad08]

eagle's peak was awsome, that was the first place we traveled to, and that was a mistake, cause no place has been able to match them yet!!! we are heading to locast lake over the fourth of july weekend. that will be are first trip with only electric, so it could be interesting. getting ready to head out tonight, in the rain:mad:, to lake glory. it is going to be a full trailer, 5 kids 4 adults. just got to get of this computer and get to work:( so i can get home:)

[kenn209]

Ok i am going to just put this out there. my wife thinks i am a bit loony, but i don't care(cause guys don't usually do). i am looking for some camping freinds. the freinds we have don't really seem into it, and the ones that are, don't have the money to go. we just sat at a campground for 4 days with no one else around, completly empty. it was a nice place, but not a whole lot to do, and till monday morning, we had plenty of "famliy time" if you know what i mean. so i figured i would put this out there and see if anyone is interested in maybe meeting up and seeing how it works out. we are a young couple, mid 20's with two kids 3 and 1.75, and sometimes 2 dogs. we enjoy biking, hiking, walking, and just hanging out too. i fish, my wife did before kids, and i hope to get them all back into it. we don't drink, or smoke, or carry on. kinda laid back. but we don't mind people that smoke and drink resposibly. we don't need another younger couple, a lot of our friends are older then us, .

You could do what I did, We went through the same thing about 5 yeas ago, None of our friends camped, So I started Virginia Campers, Which is a online forum for people who camp and live in Va. We have about 150 memebers or so and we usually have 2 Rallys a year, We have met some wonderful friends this way. We have some members from NC and MD. So we really aren't limited to just Virginians. My wife that I was crazy when I start this. This fall we are headed to Pine Grove Furnace SP for the Apple thingy. Our first trip out of state.

[wozzukes]

We tented at Locust Lake before upgrading to an RV, and tend to go there at least once a year because it's nice and close (about a 40 minute drive for us). They have a nice lake and nice play area for kids. We never had problems getting in to sites there with our old trailer, but it had no slides. The last time we were there with our new one it was a bit tight, especially since we have a slide on each side. It took some interesting maneuvering to find a spot where both slides would clear the trees. Having electric only isn't bad, you just have to watch your water consumption and try to find a site that is within a hose reach of a water source in case you run out. You usually run out of fresh water before you fill your waste tanks. The thing I don't like about not having a water hookup is how loud that darn water pump is. We want to do some of the mods to quiet it down, but haven't gotten around to it yet. It makes it hard to use the water when you have a sleeping child. Black Moshannon is another favorite state park of ours.

We will definitely have to check out Ives Run. Thanks for the suggestion! It looks like it's only about 12 miles north of where we were in Wellsboro so not much further at all! It is beautiful up in that area. Eagles Peak is also still on our list!

[cumminsdad08]

i thought about doing something like that. i was gonna put something on craigslist, but my wife kinda fliped when i told her i was going to. well its good to know that i wasn't the only one that gets lonley camping. i love the family but its nice to hang out with differnt people too.

[The Sod Father]

Not to drive traffic away from here, but I've met dozens of campering buddies on www.rvitch.com. I first went on there when I had my pop up (2003) and it was popupexplorer.com Unlike some other "rvdotnet" type sites, everyone is super friendly and super helpful. They also have a LOT of people on there. I can honestly say that 8 of my closest friends are from there.

[kenn209]

So has anyone camped at Pine Grove Furnace State Park? We will be there this Oct for the Apple Festival, Any pros/cons? Thanks

[cumminsdad08]

i am fishing for reviews on the KOA near allentown and the one near the deleware water gap. i didn't hear very good things about them, i am looking for first hand experiance please. i am trying to convince my wife to head up that way, i work a bunch that direction and i think that it so nice in the summer time, and she got this KOA thingy going on and wants to use it more then twice a year. any help would be great. i am also interested in this pine grove furnace place too. i like apples!!!

[wozzukes]

We live about 5 minutes away from the KOA near Allentown. We've never camped there for obvious reason (might as well just stay in the backyard at that point!) so unfortunately I don't have much information on it. We drive past the road it's on daily, but never actually ventured back that road since it doesn't really go anywhere except for the campground. We've actually never camped at a KOA so I don't know much about them.

We did camp at a place called Soaring Eagle in the Water Gap a few years ago. We really liked it, but at the time it was just the two of us and the dog. There was no pool, no play areas, so not much for small kids to do but that didn't matter to us at the time. They do have a tubing/rafting/canoeing operation, but it wasn't running while we were there because the river was so high. Our site was right on the river, and you actually drove on dried up river bed to get to it. It was beautiful. We had torrential rains while there though and it was when there was a really rainy spell so the river was high to begin with. When we woke up the next morning the truck of the site 2 down from ours was half way in the water because the river rose so much overnight! They ended up having to move a bunch of boulders just so we could get out without having to drive through the river. Overall it was a nice place though.

We used to have a boat and took it to the Water Gap all the time. We have driven through Dingman's Campground up there to check it out and it was really nice. We have it on our list as a place to go to this year if we get around to it. The list keeps growing but unfortunately the number of weekends in the year doesn't!

Haven't been to Pine Grove Furnace so can't really comment on it, but it looks like a nice place from the looks of the dcnr website. Hickory Run State Park is another nice one to go to with kiddos as there is lots to do in the area. Just beware of the bears! They give out warnings about them when you check in and both times we camped there over the years we have seen one, so heed the warnings! We have never been disappointed in the state parks, and back in our tenting days that was all we camped in.

[cumminsdad08]

i can tell you about water rising. it happend to us this weekend. thankfully i was planning ahead for it and all i had to do was keep an eye out every hour or so and just back the truck under the hitch and pull her out. i did however lose 8 leveling blocks but it was a whole lot cheapier then losing the trailer and our gear. we made it out ok, but the groups next us had some close calls. we learned our lesson when the owner ask's if you would like to move to another site, you should prolly listen to him, or you could just not camp next to the creek. needless to say i was heading home around 2:30 sunday morning from lake glory. but we had fun and i am planing on going back. it was super nice, and the people were super friendly, even if they could read their "radar" so good.:rolleyes:

[kenn209]

I just found out ine Grove has no water hookups. So DW is not happy with that! lol, I told her we got a tank and a pump! Nope, So now we have to look for another campground, I looked the ones in Gettysburg but they all seemed to have crappy reviews. Any one recommend a campground near the Apple Festival? TIA

[LeeMedic]

I just found out ine Grove has no water hookups. So DW is not happy with that! lol, I told her we got a tank and a pump! Nope, So now we have to look for another campground, I looked the ones in Gettysburg but they all seemed to have crappy reviews. Any one recommend a campground near the Apple Festival? TIA

Have you tried: http://rvparkreviews.net/

[wozzukes]

None of the state parks have water hookups, at least none that we've been to or that I know of. When we go to state parks we try to find a site that is within a hose's reach of a water source so that we can refill the tank if needed since you will typically run out of fresh water before filling your waste tanks. What beef does your wife have with the water pump? Aside from hearing the pump run we really can't tell a difference between the pump and and a regular water hookup.

I'm not very familiar with the Gettysburg area, so can't really help you out there.

[cumminsdad08]

i can't remember what the name of the campground is, BUT i do remember seeing a sign for one just north of there off of rt15. sorry if that isn't a whole lot of help to ya. i will dig here in a little bit and see if i didn't write it down somewhere.

[njboomer75]

Hey Cumminsdad08, The family and I stayed at the Delaware Gap KOA about 3 years ago. It was before we had a TT, kind of an experiment to see if the kids would be into it. The campground was alright, mini golf, playground, pool. you know, the usual stuff. we went off season because they had a Lumberjack/ Hot air balloon show just up the road. People were very friendly. All in all, it was cool. Hopefully that helped

[cumminsdad08]

sure did. thanks a bunch for the input